NEW DELHI: Supreme Courtroom on Wednesday severely indicted former Uttarakhand forest minister Harak Singh Rawat and divisional forest officer (DFO) Kishan Chand for unlawful felling of 1000’s of timber in Pakhrau space inside Corbett tiger reserve and requested the state to revive the forest to its authentic state and recuperate the restoration value from the culprits.A bench of Justices Bhushan R Gavai, P Okay Mishra and Sandeep Mehta minced no phrases in criticising the previous minister and the DFO. “In blatant disregard of the law and for commercial purposes, the then forest minister and DFO Kishan Chand indulged in illicit felling of trees on a mass scale to construct buildings on pretext of promotion of tourism,” the bench stated.“This is a classic case that shows how politicians and bureaucrats have thrown the public trust doctrine into the dustbin,” it added.Amazed at minister, DFO audacity in ignoring statutory provisions: SCWhile listening to the case of unlawful tree-felling in Corbett, the Supreme Courtroom acknowledged {that a} report in TOI on October 27, 2021, threw mild on the brazen breach of legislation and Uttarakhand HC took suo motu cognisance of the report back to order a CBI probe.”This is a classic case that shows how politicians and bureaucrats have thrown the public trust doctrine into the dustbin,” the bench stated. SC added that “it was clear beyond doubt” that the 2 (the then Uttarakhand forest minister Harak Singh Rawat and DFO Kishan Chand) thought of themselves above the legislation.The bench narrated how the DFO, accused of a number of comparable irregularities in earlier postings, was shielded by the then minister, who was instrumental in posting him to completely different locations by overruling the forest secretary’s suggestion for his suspension resulting from prior irregularities. The order got here on a petition claiming destruction of the tiger habitat and decline in tiger density resulting from unlawful building within the Pakhro Tiger Safari in addition to illicit felling of 1000’s of timber.Writing a 159-page judgment elaborating on previous rulings on sustainable improvement, Justice Gavai stated, “This is a case that shows how a nexus between a politician and a forest officer has resulted in heavy damage to the environment for some political and commercial gain. We are amazed at the audacity of the then forest minister and DFO Kishan Chand in giving a total go-by to the statutory provisions.”The bench ordered CBI to submit a standing report on its investigation into unlawful felling of timber in Corbett tiger reserve to the SC inside three months. It stated there should be others who assisted the minister and DFO in unlawful felling of timber and requested the state to take disciplinary motion in opposition to these individuals along with the continued CBI probe.Although it didn’t intervene with the ‘tiger safari’ that has already come up at Pakhrau, the bench appointed an skilled committee to suggest measures for restoration of the forest to its authentic state previous to the harm brought about. The committee will assess the environmental harm brought about to Corbett tiger reserve and quantify the price of restoration. It requested the state to determine individuals/officers chargeable for the harm and “recover the cost so quantified from those found responsible and utilise it only for the purpose of environmental restoration”. The bench determined to maintain monitoring the CBI probe.
#Exminister #DFO #pay #treefelling #Corbett
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